Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Raigad Fort
Mains level: Not Much
President Ram Nath Kovind is commencing his visit to Maharashtra by visiting the Raigad Fort where he will pay tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Where is Raigad fort located?
- Raigad is a hill fort situated about 25 km from Mahad in the Raigad district and stands 2,851 feet above sea level.
- The British Gazette states the fort was known to early Europeans as the Gibraltar of the East.
- Its decisive feature is a mile and a half flat top which has adequate room for buildings.
- In its prime, the fort had 300 stone houses and a garrison of 2,000 men.
When was it built?
- The fort, which was earlier called Rairi, was the seat of the Maratha clan Shirke in the 12th century.
- The fort changed hands a number of times from the dynasty of Bahaminis to the Nizamshahis and then the Adilshahis.
- In 1656, Chhatrapati Shivaji captured it from the More’s of Javli who were under the suzerainty of the Adilshahi Sultanate.
- The fort not only helped Shivaji challenge the supremacy of the Adilshahi dynasty but also opened up the routes towards Konkan for the extension of his power.
Significance of the fort in Shivaji’s life
- In 1662, Shivaji formally changed the fort’s name to Raigad and added a number of structures to it.
- By 1664, the fort had emerged as the seat of Shivaji’s government.
- As the Marathas under the leadership of Shivaji gained strength in their struggle against the Mughals, the announcement of a sovereign, independent state was made.
- On June 6, 1674, Shivaji was coronated at Raigad by Gagabhatt where he took on the title of Chhatrapati.
- Six years later, Shivaji passed away in Raigad in 1680 and has been cremated at the fort.
Importance of Raigad Fort in Maharashtra’s polity
- Chhatrapati Shivaji is the tallest and the most revered icon in Maharashtra and there is a constant attempt by political parties of all hues to appropriate his legacy.
- Due to the significance of Raigad in his life, many political leaders make it a point to visit the fort.
- Maharashtra has already announced a mid-sea memorial in the Arabian Sea for the Maratha warrior king.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: LCRD
Mains level: NA
NASA has launched its new Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) — the agency’s first-ever laser communications system.
What is LCRD?
- LCRD involves laser communications – also called optical communications which uses infrared light to send information.
- LCRD is launched in a geosynchronous orbit, over 35,000km above Earth.
- LCRD has two optical terminals – one to receive data from a user spacecraft, and the other to transmit data to ground stations.
- The modems will translate the digital data into laser signals. This will then be transmitted via encoded beams of light.
Benefits offered by LCRD
- Currently, most NASA spacecraft use radio frequency communications to send data.
- Optical communications will help increase the bandwidth 10 to 100 times more than radio frequency systems.
- The LCRD will help the agency test optical communication in space.
Laser vs Radio
- Laser communications and radio waves use different wavelengths of light. It uses infrared light and has a shorter wavelength than radio waves.
- This will help the transmission of more data in a short time.
- Using infrared lasers, LCRD will send data to Earth at 1.2 gigabits-per-second (Gbps).
- It would take roughly nine weeks to transmit a completed map of Mars back to Earth with current radio frequency systems. With lasers, we can accelerate that to about nine days, says NASA.
Other advantages
Optical communications systems are smaller in size, weight, and require less power compared with radio instruments.
- A smaller size means more room for science instruments.
- Less weight means a less expensive launch.
- Less power means less drain on the spacecraft’s batteries.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India's participation in summit for democracy
Context
On December 9 and 10, US President Joe Biden will host a virtual “summit for democracy”, which will bring together leaders of 100 countries, civil society and private sector representatives.
Challenges to India’s democratic image
- India categorised as partly free: The US-based Freedom House’s “Freedoms of the World” index categorises India as only “partly free”; the Swedish V-Dem calls India an “electoral autocracy”.
- Others lump India with Hungary, Turkey and the Philippines, where authoritarian leaders rule the roost.
- Factors affecting India’s image: Rights violations in Kashmir, suspension of internet services in Kashmir, the conflation of political dissent with the colonial-era crime of sedition, the use of anti-terrorism laws to silence critics, the failure of the state to ensure freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, the anti-Muslim amendments to citizenship laws have all but shredded India’s democratic image.
Agenda of the summit
- The agenda of the summit holds contemporary resonance in India.
- Three broad themes: According to the State Department, the summit will convene around three broad themes — defending democracy against authoritarianism, addressing and fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights.
- Leaders will be “encouraged” to announce “specific actions and commitments” to meaningful domestic reforms and international initiatives that advance the summit’s goals.
Why India’s contribution to the agenda will be scrutinized closely
- Cultural relativisms: One theme that emerges from these observations is that of cultural relativism — the “Indianness of India’s democracy”— “as India becomes ever more democratic, democracy will become ever more Indian in its sensibilities and texture”.
- Role of civil society: A second theme is the role of civil society.
- It has been accused of “defaming” or bringing harm to India, as espoused most recently in statements by the National Security Adviser, who also called them “the new frontier of a fourth-generation war”.
- Ensuring democratic rights: Another noticeable theme is around the responsibility for ensuring democratic rights.
Challenges for India
- India has to reconcile the paradox inherent in submitting to international gaze at a global assembly where it is apparently required to make commitments adhering to “western” standards of democracy while claiming there is an Indian model.
- In March this year, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar dismissed global standards and international metrics of democracy as rubbish.
- For perspective, this is what China says too.
- When President Biden brought up Beijing’s human rights record, President Xi Jinping told him there was no “uniform model” of democracy, and that dismissing other “forms of democracy different from one’s own is itself undemocratic.
- The summit may intensify these differences, particularly because the host has no shining credentials either.
- If democracy-building was never the US goal in Afghanistan, as Biden declared, why make the unfreezing of Afghan assets overseas conditional to the Taliban turning democratic and inclusive overnight?
Conclusion
India’s expected participation in the summit will come against a rather bleak backdrop of relativism, misinformation, confusion, obfuscation and polarisation on issues of democracy, civil society and rights.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cryptocurrencies
Mains level: Paper 3- Lessons for regulation
Context
The fact that crypto exchanges successfully managed to signal legitimacy for their services and offer these tokens to a mostly-uninformed public for over a year provides lessons on how the government and sectoral regulators may need to act before the game gets out of hand.
Regulating the technology innovation
- Technology innovation typically remains a step ahead of regulatory frameworks, which are designed with current practices in mind.
- Problems occur when these innovations push the envelope beyond accepted codes of social and ethical behaviour.
- Digital lending apps: The joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on a proposed data privacy law that recently released its controversial report has pointed to dubious “digital” lending apps proliferating on the Android platform.
- Blockchain technology, of which cryptos are a part, is an innovation that can facilitate transactions across assorted functions.
Issues with unregulated cryptocurrencies in India
- Some estimates show that over 15 million Indians have invested in cryptos, many of whom live in Tier-II or Tier-III towns.
- But crypto exchanges in India have pushed the boundaries of this invention.
- Important disclaimer not communicated properly: They have been advertising aggressively across media platforms often announcing important disclaimers at warp speed.
- These provisos were supposed to communicate that cryptos are neither currencies nor strictly “assets”, and that these trading platforms are not truly “exchanges”, that crypto values are not determined by the usual dynamics governing other income-yielding assets, and that investing in cryptos was an exceedingly risky proposition.
- In the meantime, with advertising overload stimulating viewer interest, many scam crypto issuers and exchanges have sprung up in attempts to separate the gullible from their savings.
Regulation challenges and how government is tackling it
- The government has now stepped in, seized with the political perils of speculative investments turning sour.
- Unfortunately, sectoral regulators, such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi), were unable to step in and act earlier because they are governed by specific Acts which do not mention cryptos as a category that needs regulation.
- Need for enabling clauses: This episode provides a valuable lesson on how these Acts should perhaps include some enabling clauses that allow financial sector regulators to intervene whenever any intermediary tries to sell a financial service or any new innovative financial service poses the risk of disrupting financial stability.
- Two important documents have recently been released which discuss entry norms into formal banking, both further strengthening RBI’s hands.
- Think-tank Niti Aayog’s paper on licensing digital banks recommends an evolutionary path for digital banks that’s RBI-regulated at all stages: first a restricted licence, then a regulatory sandbox offering some relaxations, and finally a “full-stack” digital banking licence.
- Simultaneously, RBI has accepted some of the suggestions of its internal working group and modified a few to make entry norms stricter, but has maintained silence on the entry of private sector corporate houses into banking.
- The JPC’s concerns over unregulated digital lending have also focused attention on an RBI-appointed committee’s report on digital lending, given that multiple fintech-based online lenders have mushroomed during the pandemic.
Conclusion
This highlights the need for principle-based regulations, rather than rule-based regulations, to allow for flexibility and adaptability in a fast-changing technology environment.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gini
Mains level: Paper 2- Analysing NHFS-5 data
Context
The release of the NFHS data (and the Niti Aayog’s study on developing a multi-dimensional index of poverty — MPI) has led to a considerable amount of discussion, and justifiably so.
Understanding the progress and development: MPI
- The MPI is an Oxford-based initiative that develops an exclusive broadly non-monetary living standard index of poverty.
- MPI indices are the third in the series of global studies on poverty.
- Global studies on poverty: Global studies started with the World Bank’s income/consumption-based measure of absolute poverty.
- The UN expanded the monetary index adding health and education indicators via the Human Development Index (HDI).
Evolution of poverty over time
- Like with the other poverty indices (World Bank and HDI), most information and useful policy analysis comes via a study of the inter-temporal evolution of poverty.
- Regional inequality: Ajit Ranade acknowledges that regional inequality has existed for some time, but he argues that poverty incidence across Indian states even as per the MPI is astoundingly unequal.
- T N Ninan talks about the simultaneous existence of Africa’s Sahel region and the Philippines in India.
- He finds that the two Indias are not getting any closer.
- Indeed, India’s development trajectory has not been uniform, but the regional imbalance of development cannot be viewed at a fixed point in time.
Analysing the NHFS data
- A detailed examination of the summary statistics reported in the NFHS data (large and small states of India for the two years 2015-16 and 2019-21), reveals the opposite result.
- Convergence: The analysis reveals remarkable convergence in living standards, a convergence possibly unparalleled in Indian history and in the space of just five years.
- NFHS reports the averages for all states, and for 131 variables, for two years 2015-16 and 2020-21.
- Seventeen of these 131 welfare indicators are used to construct indices under four classifications.
- Improvement in lives of girls/women: The first classification concerns itself with the improvement in the lives of girls/women (five indicators, for example, sex ratio, fertility, female education).
- Housing conditions: The second bucket consists of housing conditions (three indicators, for example, improved sanitation, clean fuel).
- Children’s welfare: The third list consists of children’s welfare (four indicators such as adequate diet, stunting)
- Women’s welfare: The fourth classification includes women’s empowerment (five indicators, for example, owning a house, less spousal violence).
- Given that Niti Aayog’s report primarily relies on the NFHS-4, these findings can be used as the baseline scenario to evaluate the delta — that is, the per cent change in indicators between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5.
- The table reports the results for several states.
- Seventeen indicators imply a maximum possible score of 1,700.
- Kerala performs the best with an aggregate index of 1,300 in NFHS-5 — a very small 1.5 per cent increase from its 2015-16 value.
- In contrast, Bihar increases its index by 56 per cent.
- Punjab does better than Tamil Nadu and today has a higher index – 1,240 versus 1,178 in 2020-21.
- UP (along with Rajasthan and MP) performs the best — a 60 plus per cent increase in the welfare index, more than five times the increase in the rich states.
Major findings from the NHFS data
- Convergence: Higher improvement by less developed states is evidence in support of catch-up, which suggests that regional imbalances are reducing, and in some indicators, rapidly so.
- States such as UP, Bihar and Jharkhand are fast approaching similar standards for select indicators as some of the “developed” states.
- Result of targeted intervention: This acceleration in catch up is no coincidence, but rather an outcome of an approach that involves targeted interventions to improve developmental outcomes.
- The approach was not just limited to sanitation, proper fuel or electricity — interventions that are targeted to an individual household — but also to the holistic development of an entire region.
Consider the question “What does NHFS-5 data reveal about the inequality in India?”
Conclusion
India has been, and was, not one but several Indias. What is remarkable about its recent history is the rapid process of uneven change — where progress is considerably higher for the poorer states — the convergent, and inclusive pattern of development. That is the real story behind the NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 numbers.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Unresolved constitutional cases and their implications
Context
As 2021 draws to a close, a look at the Supreme Court of India’s docket reveals a host of highly significant constitutional cases that were long-pending when the year began, and are now simply a year older without any sign of resolution around the corner.
How delay in judicial process matters differently for the State and individual?
- While the violation of rights — whether through executive or legislative action — is relatively costless for the state, it is the individual, or individuals, who pay the price.
- Making the Constitution effective: Consequently, a Constitution is entirely ineffective if a rights-violating status quo is allowed to exist and perpetuate for months, or even years, before it is finally resolved.
- This point, of course, is not limited to the violation of rights, but extends to all significant constitutional questions that arise in the course of controversial state action.
- Missing the accountability: Issues around the federal structure, elections, and many others, all involve questions of power and accountability, and the longer that courts take to resolve such cases, the more we move from a realm of accountability to a realm of impunity.
- The longer such cases are left hanging without a decision, the greater the damage that is inflicted upon our constitutional democracy’s commitment to the rule of law.
Significant cases that are unresolved
[a] Challenge to the dilution of Article 370
- There is the constitutional challenge to the Presidential Orders of August 5, 2019, that effectively diluted Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, and bifurcated the State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, controlled by the Centre.
- It raises the question of whether the Centre can take advantage of an Article 356 situation in a State — a time when no elected government and Assembly is in existence — to make permanent and irreversible alterations in the very structure of the State itself.
- Implications for federal structure: The answer will have important ramifications not just for Jammu and Kashmir but for the entire federal structure:
- India has a long history of the abuse of Article 356 to “get rid of” inconvenient State governments, and a further expansion of the power already enjoyed by the Centre will skew an already tilted federal scheme even further.
- Power of the Parliament to alter convert State into UT: The case also raises the question of whether, under the Constitution, the Union Legislature has the authority not simply to alter State boundaries (a power granted to it by Article 3 of the Constitution), but degrade a State into a Union Territory.
- If it turned out that the Union Legislature does have this power, it would essentially mean that India’s federal structure is entirely at the mercy of Parliament.
[2] Constitutional challenge to the electoral bond scheme
- Opaque and structurally biased: The electoral bonds scheme authorises limitless, anonymous corporate donations to political parties, making election funding both entirely opaque to the people, as well as being structurally biased towards the party that is in power at the Centre.
- Impact on integrity and right of the citizens to informed vote: In numerous central and State election cycles in the last four years, thousands of crores of rupees have been spent in anonymous political donations, thus impacting not only the integrity of the election process but also the constitutional right of citizens to an informed vote.
- However, other than two interim orders, the Supreme Court has refused to accord a full hearing to the constitutional challenge.
[3] Other significant cases
- Statutory basis of the CBI: As far back as 2013, the Gauhati High Court held that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was not established under any statutory authority.
- This verdict was immediately stayed when it was appealed to the Supreme Court, but in the intervening years, it has never been heard.
- Challenge to the CAA: More recently, constitutional challenges to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), filed in the immediate aftermath of the legislation’s enactment, remain unheard.
- Challenge to the UAPA: The challenges to the much-criticised Section 43(D)(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which makes the grant of bail effectively impossible, and is responsible for the years-long incarceration of several people.
- The challenge to Section 43(D)(5) is perhaps the case that most directly affects civil rights, as the section continues to be applied on a regular basis.
Implications of the delay
- Favouring one party: The Supreme Court’s inaction is not neutral, but rather, favours the beneficiaries of the status quo.
- In other words, by not deciding, the Court is in effect deciding — in favour of one party — but without a reasoned judgment that justifies its stance.
- Impact on accountability: Judicial evasion of this kind is also damaging for the accountability of the judiciary itself.
- The Court’s inaction plays as significant a role on the ground as does its action, there is no judgment — and no reasoning — that the public can engage with.
- Impact on the rule of law: For obvious reasons, this too has a serious impact on the rule of law.
Consider the question “What are the implications of the delay in deciding the constitutionally significant cases? Suggest the way forward.”
Conclusion
The current CJI has been on record stressing the importance of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. One way of demonstrating that in action might be to hear — and decide — the important constitutional cases pending before the Court.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AFSPA
Mains level: Human Rights and National Security dichotomy
The death of at least 14 civilians in Nagaland as a result of the action of the Indian Army has brought back into focus the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 [AFSPA].
AFSPA: A Backgrounder
- The AFSPA, 1958 came into force in the context of insurgency in the North-eastern States decades ago.
- It provides “special power” to the Armed Forces applies to the Army, the Air Force and the Central Paramilitary forces etc.
- It has been long contested debate whether the “special powers” granted under AFSPA gives total immunity to the armed forces for any action taken by them.
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958
- Armed Forces Special Powers Act, to put it simply, gives armed forces the power to maintain public order in “disturbed areas.”
- AFSPA gives armed forces the authority use force or even open fire after giving due warning if they feel a person is in contravention of the law.
- The Act further provides that if “reasonable suspicion exists”, the armed forces can also arrest a person without warrant; enter or search premises without a warrant; and ban the possession of firearms.
What are the Special Powers?
The ‘special powers’ which are spelt out under Section 4 provide that:
(a) Power to use force, including opening fire, even to the extent of causing death if prohibitory orders banning assembly of five or more persons or carrying arms and weapons, etc are in force in the disturbed area;
(b) Power to destroy structures used as hide-outs, training camps, or as a place from which attacks are or likely to be launched, etc;
(c) Power to arrest without warrant and to use force for the purpose;
(d) Power to enter and search premises without a warrant to make arrest or recovery of hostages, arms and ammunition and stolen property etc.
What are the Disturbed Areas?
- A disturbed area is one that is declared by notification under Section 3 of the AFSPA.
- As per Section 3, it can be invoked in places where “the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary”.
Who can declare/notify such areas?
- The Central Government or the Governor of the State or administrator of the Union Territory can declare the whole or part of the State or Union Territory as a disturbed area.
- A suitable notification would have to be made in the Official Gazette.
Presently ‘Disturbed Areas’
- AFSPA is currently in force in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, 3 districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and areas falling within the jurisdiction of 8 police stations in Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam.
- In Jammu and Kashmir, a separate law Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 has been in force.
AFSPA: Is it a License to Kill?
While the operation of the Section has been controversial in itself, it has attracted much criticism when actions have resulted in the death of civilians.
- Power to kill: Section 4 of the Act granted officers the authority to “take any action” even to the extent to cause the death.
- Protection against prosecution: This power is further bolstered by Section 6 which provides that legal can be instituted against the officer, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government.
Supreme Court’s Observations over AFSPA
- These extra-judicial killings became the attention of the Supreme Court in 2016.
- It clarified that the bar under Section 6 would not grant “total immunity” to the officers against any probe into their alleged excesses.
- The judgment noted that if any death was unjustified, there is no blanket immunity available to the perpetrator(s) of the offense.
- The Court further noted that if an offense is committed even by Army personnel, there is no concept of absolute immunity from trial by the criminal court constituted under the CrPC.
Constitutionality of AFSPA
- Attempts have been made to examine the constitutionality of the Act on the grounds that it is contravention to the:
- Right to Life and Personal Liberty (Article 21) and
- Federal structure of the Constitution since law and order is a State subject
Recommendations to repeal AFSPA
(1) Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy Commission
- The 2004 Committee headed by Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy, the content of which has never officially been revealed by the Government, recommended that AFSPA be repealed.
- Additionally, it recommended that appropriate provisions be inserted in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 (UAPA) instead.
- It also recommended that the UAPA be modified to clearly specify the powers of the armed forces and paramilitary forces and grievance cells should be set up in each district where the armed forces are deployed.
(2) ARC II
- The Administrative Reforms Commission in its 5th Report on ‘Public Order’ had also recommended that AFSPA be repealed.
- It recommended adding a new chapter to be added to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.
- However, the recommendation was considered first and then rejected.
Other issues with AFSPA
(1) Sexual Misconduct by Armed Forces
- The issue of violation of human rights by actions of armed forces came under the consideration of the Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law (popularly known as Justice Verma Committee) set up in 2012.
- It observed that- in conflict zones, legal protection for women was neglected.
(2) Autocracy
- The reality is that there is no evidence of any action being taken against any officer of the armed forces or paramilitary forces for their excesses.
Caution given by the Supreme Court
A July 2016 judgment authored by Justice Madan B. Lokur in Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association quoted the “Ten Commandments” issued by the Chief of the Army Staff for operations in disturbed areas:
- Definite circumstances: The “power to cause death is relatable to maintenance of public order in a disturbed area and is to be exercised under definite circumstances”.
- Declaration preconditions: These preconditions include a declaration by a high-level authority that an area is “disturbed”.
- Due warning: The officer concerned decides to use deadly force on the opinion that it is “necessary” to maintain public order. But he has to give “due warning” first.
- No arbitrary action: The persons against whom the action was taken by the armed forces should have been “acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area”.
- Minimal use of force: The armed forces must use only the “minimal force required for effective action against the person/persons acting in contravention of the prohibitory order.”
- Empathy with perpetrators: The court said that: the people you are dealing with are your own countrymen. All your conduct must be dictated by this one significant consideration.
- People friendliness: The court underscored how the Commandments insist that “operations must be people-friendly, using minimum force and avoiding collateral damage – restrain must be the key”.
- Good intelligence: It added that “good intelligence is the key to success”.
- Compassion: It exhorted personnel to “be compassionate, help the people and win their hearts and minds. Employ all resources under your command to improve their living conditions”.
- Upholding Dharma (Duty): The judgment ended with the final Commandment to “uphold Dharma and take pride in your country and the Army”.
Conclusion
- Despite demands by civil society groups and human rights activities, none of the recommendations have not been implemented to date.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NPK fertilizers
Mains level: Fertilizer subsidies in India
An unprecedented spike in natural gas prices and other raw materials is set to inflate the fertilizer subsidy bill by a whopping 62% or ₹50,000 crores to ₹1,30,000 crore this fiscal.
Fertilizer Subsidy in India
- Fertilizer subsidy is purchasing by the farmer at a price below MRP (Maximum Retail Price), that is, below the usual demand-and-supply-rate, or regular production and import cost.
- Subsidy as a concept originated during the Green Revolution of the 1970s-80s.
How does it work?
- Fertilizer subsidy ultimately goes to the fertilizer company, even though it is the farmer that benefits.
- Before 2018, companies were reimbursed after the material was dispatched and received by the district railhead or designated godown.
- 2018 saw the beginning of DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer), which would transfer money directly to the retailer’s account.
- However, the companies will be paid only after the actual sale to the farmer.
- With the DBT system, each retailer — there is over 2.3 lakh of them across India — now has a point-of-sale (PoS) machine linked to the Department of Fertilizers’ e-Urvarak DBT portal.
What about non-urea fertilizers?
- Decontrolled system: The non-urea fertilizer is decontrolled or fixed by the companies.
- The non- urea fertilizers are further divided into two parts, DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) and MOP (Muriate of Phosphate).
Issues with such subsidies
- Flawed subsidy policy: This is harmful not just to the farmer, but to the environment as well.
- No permanent remedy: Indian soil has low Nitrogen use efficiency, which is the main constituent of Urea.
- Excessive use: Consequently, excess usage contaminates groundwater.
- Emission: The bulk of urea applied to the soil is lost as NH3 (Ammonia) and Nitrogen Oxides causing emissions.
- Health hazards: For human beings, “blue baby syndrome” is a common side ailment caused by Nitrate contaminated water.
Post your answers in the comment box for this PYQ:
Q.What are the advantages of fertigation in agriculture? (CSP 2020)
1. Controlling the alkalinity of irrigation water is possible.
2. Efficient application of Rock Phosphate and all other phosphatic fertilizers is possible.
3. Increased availability of nutrients to plants is possible.
4. Reduction in the leaching of chemical nutrients is possible.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 1,2 and 4 only
(c) 1,3 and 4 only
(d) 2, 3 and 4 only
Post your answers here.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Snail Physella Acuta
Mains level: Not Much
A tiny snail with a striking, pellucid golden-yellow shell found in the Edappally canal in Kochi has been flagged as an invasive species that could play havoc with native ecosystems.
Snail Physella Acuta
- First described by J.P.R. Draparnaud in 1805, Physella acuta is considered native to North America but is now found in all continents except Antarctica.
- The snail was first reported in India in the early 1990s.
- It is believed to have reached Kerala through the aquarium trade, a major vector for invasive species.
- In Kerala, the snail had made its home in a highly polluted reach plagued by high sedimentation, untreated sewage, commercial effluents, construction wastes and a thick growth of invasive aquatic weeds.
Threats posed
- This snail plays host to worms that can cause food-borne diseases and skin itches in humans.
- Moreover, its rapid growth rate, air-breathing capability, and tolerance to pollution make it a potential competitor to native fauna.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges facing cooperatives in India
Context
The article delved into the past of the cooperative movement and give some suggestions to resolve the issues facing cooperatives in India.
Background of cooperatives
- Friedrich Raiffeisen, who along with compatriot Schulze-Delitzsch in Germany, and Luzzatti of Italy, pioneered cooperatives in Europe.
- Cooperatives in India: The Governor of the Madras Presidency, Lord Wenlock, was the first to seriously attempt replicating European cooperatives in India.
- Principles: Raiffeisen based them on the principles of self-help, self-governance, and self-responsibility.
- Nicholson wrote that the ‘future of rural credit lies with those who being of the people, live among the people, and yet by their intelligence, prescience and energy, are above the people’.
- Plunkett, in his foreword to Eleanor Hough’s The Cooperative Movement in India (1932), commented that what India had was not a movement, but a policy.
- It was ‘created by ‘resolutions of the Central Government’ unlike Europe.
- Increasing government control: John Matthai wrote in 1925 that the challenge was to loosen government grip on cooperation over the years.
- But, government control has only increased, violating a core cooperative principle of political neutrality.
- This reflects a collective failure of the political class.
Challenges facing cooperatives
- After Independence, cooperative institutions became an instrument of planning and state action.
- Not surprisingly, successful Indian cooperatives such as the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF)/Amul, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) and Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO), are outside government control.
- Globally, seven of the top 10 cooperatives by asset size are from the financial sector.
- The Indian financial sector is nowhere in the picture going by asset size.
- Cooperatives have also become avenues for regulatory arbitrage, circumventing lending and anti-money laundering regulations.
- The committees which examined cooperative banking suffered from the top-down quality that Plunkett and others frowned upon.
- Recent initiatives such as an umbrella organisation for urban cooperatives and a new Ministry of Cooperation at the Centre threaten to further this approach in the absence of safeguards.
Suggestions
- First, the powers of the RCS need to be scaled back.
- In almost all States, the RCS has become an instrument of inspection and domination, one which imposes uniform by-laws, and amends them when individual societies do not fall in line.
- There is a need to transfer work from the RCS to cooperative federations — as in Singapore.
- Second, the rural-urban dichotomy in the regulatory treatment of cooperatives is specious and outdated.
- Such differences are immaterial when regulation is to be based on the cooperative nature of organisations.
- Third, the regulation and the supervision of cooperative banks should move to a new body from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for urban banks and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for rural banks.
- Fourth, lessons from the Netherlands, where cooperative banks owe their success to a segmented market, are pertinent.
- In India, adopting a multi-agency approach, especially after bank nationalisation, has affected the efficiency of both commercial and cooperative banks.
- Commercial bank-cooperative sector linkages at various levels could alternatively provide better synergies.
Conclusion
The cooperative sector in India faces challenges on various fronts. There is a need for implementing the changes suggested above to play an important role expected from it in the economy.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Tackling air pollution through solar farming
Context
Supreme Court (SC) judges have pulled up the Delhi and central governments for not doing enough to correct the dire air quality situation. They also remarked on what message we are sending to the world.
The pollution problem raises doubt about the quality of urbanisation in India
- If one looks at the capitals of G20 countries, Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) during November 1-15, is by far the worst at 312, as per World Air Quality Index Project.
- India’s distinction goes beyond Delhi.
- As per the World Air Quality Report of 2020, prepared by IQAir (a Swiss organisation), of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, 22 are in India.
- The problem is much deeper, raising doubts about the quality of our urbanisation.
Contributing sources and their share
- Contributing sources: As per the report of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change following sources contribute in the given proportion:
- Energy generation (largely coal-based thermal power) is the biggest culprit with a share of 44 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions,
- Energy generation is followed by manufacturing and construction-18 per cent.
- Agriculture-14 per cent.
- Transport-13 per cent industrial processes and product use- 8 per cent and waste burning- 3 per cent.
Suggestions to tackle Delhi’s pollution
- As per the System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the reasons for poor AQI differ day to day.
- On a particular day, say November 7, stubble burning contributed 48 per cent of Delhi’s air pollution, which fell to just 2 per cent on November 18.
- Reduce rice cultivation: The Centre needs to sit down with neighbouring states and come up with a plan to reduce the rice area in this belt, which is already depleting the water table, creating methane and nitrous oxide, to incentivise farmers to switch to other crops through better returns than in rice cultivation.
- Adopt EVs: To tackle vehicular pollution, we need a massive drive towards electric vehicles (EVs), and later towards green hydrogen when it becomes competitive with fossil fuels.
- Charging stations: Scaling up EVs quickly demands creating charging stations on a war footing.
- Develop carbon sink: Delhi also needs a good carbon sink.
- Rejuvenating the Ridge area with dense forests and developing thick forests on both sides of the Yamuna may help.
Enhancing farmers income through solar farming
- The Prime Minister has done a commendable job in Glasgow to commit that 50 per cent of India’s energy will be from renewable sources by 2030.
- To replace coal in energy generation, solar and wind is the way to go at the all-India level.
- The current model in solar energy is heavily tilted towards companies.
- They are setting up large solar farms on degraded or less fertile lands.
- We can supplement that model by developing solar farms on farmers’ fields.
- This would require solar panels to be fixed at a 10 feet height with due spacing to let enough sunlight come to the plants for photosynthesis.
- These “solar trees” can then become the “third crop” for the farmers, earning them regular income throughout the year, provided the law allows them to sell this power to the national grid.
- The Delhi government’s pilot in Ujwa KVK land on these lines showed that farmers can earn up to Rs 1 lakh per acre per year from this “solar farming”.
- This is on top of the two crops they can keep growing under those solar trees.
- This will double farmers’ income within a year.
Conclusion
As deteriorating air quality grips the whole country, we need to work on multiple levels with coordination to tackle the problem.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: S-400
Mains level: Paper 2- India- Russia ties in the changed geopolitical context
Context
The Russian president is on visit to India. Visits by Russian presidents to India always invoke a sense of nostalgia. The Moscow-Delhi relationship dates back to the Cold War era and it has been strong ever since.
Factors limiting the possibilities for bilateral partnership
- The conflict between Russia and the West: One factor is the continuing conflict between the Kremlin and the West.
- Absence of trade between India and Russia: The other is the absence of a thriving commercial relationship between India and Russia.
- India-US relations: India’s relations with Washington has never been as intense as it is today.
- Russia-China relations: Moscow’s embrace of Beijing is tighter than ever.
- The US-China rivalry: That the US and China are now at each other’s throats makes the great power dynamic a lot more complicated for India and Russia.
Importance of trade ties
- Need for robust business ties: That Delhi and Moscow have problems with the best friend of the other would have been more manageable if business ties between India and Russia were solid.
- Where India and Russia have greater freedom is in the economic domain, but their failure to boost the commercial relationship has been stark.
- India-Russia annual trade in goods is stuck at about $10 billion.
- Slow progress on enhancing trade and investment ties: During the last 20 summits with Putin, the two sides have repeatedly affirmed the importance of enhancing trade and investment ties; but progress has been hard to come by.
- How to fix the problem? The problem clearly can’t be fixed at the level of governments.
- The Russian business elites gravitate to Europe and China. The Indian corporations are focused on America and China.
Russia-US ties and its implications for India
- Implications for India? The structural constraints posed by the great power dynamic and vastly different appreciation of the regional security environment could be reduced if matters improve between Washington and Moscow.
- In Washington, the Biden administration recognises the importance of ending this permanent crisis in US-Russian relations.
- Winning a strategic competition with China: The Biden administration, which is focused on winning the intensifying strategic competition with China, values a stable relationship with Russia.
- Nothing pleases Moscow more than the image of being Washington’s equal on the global stage.
- Relief for India: A less conflictual relationship between Washington and Moscow will be a huge relief for India; but Delhi can’t nudge them closer to each other.
Why the partnership with India matters to Russia
- Dangers of excessive reliance on China: Persistent conflict with the US, Europe, and Japan have moved Moscow ever closer to Beijing.
- But Moscow knows the dangers of relying solely on a neighbour which has risen to greatness — the Chinese economy at nearly $15 trillion today is nearly 10 times larger than that of Russia.
- Sustaining the traditional partnership with India: While resetting Russia’s relations with the West is hard, sustaining the traditional partnership with Delhi is of some political value to Moscow.
- Longstanding defence ties: Russia is pleased that the S-400 missile sale has gone through despite strong US opposition.
- For it signals Delhi’s commitment not to let Washington roll back India’s longstanding defence ties with Russia.
- Russia knows India’s strategic cooperation with the US has acquired an unstoppable momentum; and Delhi knows it has no veto over the Sino-Russian strategic partnership.
- Moscow and Delhi are learning to live with this uncomfortable unreality and stabilising their political ties within that context.
Consider the question “While both India and Russia have drifted apart from the depth of past partnerships, there is a need for stabilising their political ties within the changed context.Comment.”
Context
Delhi and Moscow have no reason to be satisfied with the poor state of their commercial ties. The success of Monday’s summit lies not in squeezing more out of bilateral defence ties, but in laying a clear path for expansive economic cooperation, and generating a better understanding of each other’s imperatives on Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hypersonic Glide Vehicle, ICBM
Mains level: Hypersonic weapons race
China recently tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile while Russia announced that it had successfully test-launched a Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile in early October.
What are Hypersonic Weapons?
- The speed of sound is Mach 1, and speeds upto Mach 5 are supersonic and speeds above Mach 5 are hypersonic.
- They are manoeuvrable weapons that can fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, five times the speed of sound.
- A number of other countries – including Australia, India, France, Germany, and Japan—are developing hypersonic weapons technology.
Features of HSWs
- Trajectory: Ballistic Missiles are long-range missile that leaves the earth’s atmosphere before re-entry, pursuing a parabolic trajectory towards its target
- Maneuverability: HSW travel within the atmosphere and can manoeuvre midway which combined with their high speeds make their detection and interception extremely difficult.
- Stealth: Radars and air defences cannot intercept them till they are very close. They can penetrate most missile defences and further compress the timelines for response by a nation under attack.
Types of Hypersonic Weapons
There are two classes of hypersonic weapons:
- Hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV): They are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target.
- Hypersonic cruise missiles (HCM): They are powered by high-speed, air-breathing engines, or scramjets, after acquiring their target.
Where does the US stand?
- The US has active hypersonic development programs.
- It is said to be lagging behind China and Russia because most US hypersonic weapons are not being designed for use with a nuclear warhead.
- It is in process of developing prototypes to assist in the evaluation of potential weapon system concepts and mission sets.
Hypersonic program in India
- HSTDV program: India is developing an indigenous, dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile as part of its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) program.
- Capacity: India operates approximately 12 hypersonic wind tunnels and is capable of testing speeds of up to Mach 13.
- In-operation: The DRDO has successfully tested a Mach 6 scramjet in June 2019 and September 2020 using the demonstrated scramjet engine technology.
DRDO has validated many associated crucial technologies such as:
- Aerodynamic configuration for hypersonic maneuvers
- Use of scramjet propulsion for ignition and sustained combustion at the hypersonic flow
- Thermo-structural characterization of high-temperature materials
- Separation mechanism at hypersonic velocities has been validated
Conclusion
- There are rising tensions between the US, China and Russia worsening the geopolitical situation worldwide.
- The focus for hypersonic weapons is only set to accelerate more countries to invest significant resources in their design and development.
Back2Basics:
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Provision for Bail
Mains level: Bail as an FR under Article 21
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has approached the Supreme Court against a Bombay High Court order granting bail to an advocate and activist.
What is the case?
- In its bail order, the court has asked the NIA Court to decide the conditions for her release.
- The activist was given ‘default bail’.
- The case highlights the nuances involved in a court determining the circumstances in which statutory bail is granted or denied, even though it is generally considered “an indefeasible right”.
What is default bail?
- This is enshrined in Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
- Also known as statutory bail, this is a Right to Bail that accrues when the police fail to complete investigation within a specified period in respect of a person in judicial custody.
- When it is not possible for the police to complete an investigation in 24 hours, the police produce the suspect in court and seek orders for either police or judicial custody.
When is the Bail granted?
- For most offences, the police have 60 days to complete the investigation and file a final report before the court.
- However, where the offence attracts death sentence or life imprisonment, or a jail term of not less than 10 years, the period available is 90 days.
- In other words, a magistrate cannot authorise a person’s judicial remand beyond the 60-or 90-day limit.
- At the end of this period, if the investigation is not complete, the court shall release the person “if he is prepared to and does furnish bail”.
How does the provision vary for special laws?
The extension of time is not automatic but requires a judicial order.
- Ordinary law (IPC/CrPC): The 60- or 90-day limit is only for ordinary penal law.
- Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act: In NDPS Act, the period is 180 days. However, in cases involving substances in commercial quantity, the period may be extended up to one year.
- Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act: In UAPA, the default limit is 90 days only. The court may grant an extension of another 90 days, if it is satisfied that the progress made in the investigation and giving reasons to keep the accused in further custody.
What are the laid-down principles on this aspect?
- A matter of Right: Default or statutory bail is an indefeasible right’, regardless of the nature of the crime liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
- Stipulated period calculation: The stipulated period within which the charge sheet has to be filed begins from the day the accused is remanded for the first time. It includes days undergone in both police and judicial custody, but not days spent in house-arrest.
- Voluntary: There is no automatic bail.
Try this similar PYQ from CSP 2021:
Q. With reference to India, consider the following statements:
- When a prisoner makes a sufficient case, parole cannot be out denied to such prisoner because it becomes a matter of his/her right.
- State Governments have their own Prisoners Release on Parole Rules.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hallmark Gold
Mains level: Not Much
The Government has made it mandatory for the introduction of a Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number in every piece of jewellery.
What is HUID?
- HUID is a six-digit alphanumeric code, or one that consists of numbers and letters. It is given to every piece of jewellery at the time of hallmarking and is unique for each piece.
- It is being implemented by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in a phased manner.
- Hallmarking & HUID are mandatory for 14-, 18- and 22-carat gold jewellery and artefacts.
- Before buying any piece of gold jewellery, the buyer should check all these three symbols.
Implementation of HUID
- Symbols: The hallmark consists of three symbols which give some information about the jewellery piece. The first symbol is the BIS logo; the second indicates purity and fineness; and the third symbol is the HUID.
- A&H centre: Jewellery is stamped with the unique number manually at the Assaying & Hallmarking centre.
Why is it being introduced?
- Authentication: HUID gives a distinct identity to each piece of jewellery enabling traceability.
- Credibility: It is critical to the credibility of hallmarking and to help address complaints against adulteration.
- Registration: In HUID-based hallmarking, registration of jewellers is an automatic process with no human interference.
- Prevents malpractice: It also helps check malpractice by members of the trade.
- Data privacy: It is a secure system and poses no risk to data privacy and security.
- Financial tracking: HUID provides traceability and financial tracking of purchases.
Issues with HUID
- Time-consuming: It is cumbersome to number each piece of jewellery
- Intricate jewellery: HUID cannot be engraved in tiny pieces.
- Unnecessary expense: Also it will increase cost for consumers.
- Infrastructural issues: there needs to be ample AH Centres.
What does this mean for the consumer?
- Consumer protection: Given that gold plays a big role in the lives of Indians, mandating gold hallmarking is aimed at protecting consumer interests.
- Assurance of quality: It provides ‘third-party assurance’ to consumers on the purity of gold jewellery.
Conclusion
- HUID concept is innovative, out-of-the-box thinking and more than makes up for stepping in late with mandatory hallmarking.
- It is the sort of global leadership India has and needs to show in gold-related reforms.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dhawan-1
Mains level: Space startups in India
Skyroot Aerospace successfully tested Dhawan-1 last month. It became the country’s first privately developed fully cryogenic rocket engine.
Dhawan-1
- The indigenous engine was developed using 3D printing with a superalloy.
- It runs on two high-performance rocket propellants — liquid natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LoX).
- This was after successfully designing and developing the solid propulsion rocket engine, the first private firm in the country to do so.
Other projects by Skyroot
- Skyroot is working simultaneously on different stages of both solid propulsion and liquid propulsion engines.
- It is named after eminent scientists, like Kalam (Abdul Kalam) series for the former and Dhawan (Satish Dhawan).
- The launch vehicles are named after Vikram Sarabhai.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Konyak Tribe
Mains level: Not Much
An angry mob allegedly vandalized an Assam Rifles camp and the office of the Konyak Union in Nagaland’s Mon district.
Konyak Tribe
- With a population of roughly 3 lakh, the area inhabited by the Konyaks extends into Arunachal Pradesh, with a sizeable population in Myanmar as well.
- They are known to be one of the fiercest warrior tribes in Nagaland.
- The Konyaks were the last to give up the practice of head-hunting – severing heads of enemies after attacking rival tribes – as late as the 1980s.
Significance in Naga Peace Process
- Mon is the only district in Nagaland where the separatist group has not been able to set up base camps, largely due to resistance from the Konyaks.
- The Konyaks therefore, are imperative for a smooth resolution of the peace talks, as well as the post-talk peace process in the state.
Also read:
Naga Peace Accord
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Project RE-HAB
Mains level: Man-Animal Conflict
Buoyed by the success of its innovative Project RE-HAB (Reducing Elephant-Human Attacks using Bees) in Karnataka, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has now replicated the project in Assam.
Project RE-HAB
- Project RE-HAB is a sub-mission of KVIC’s National Honey Mission.
- Under the project, “Bee-fences” are created by setting up bee boxes in the passageways of elephants to block their entrance to human territories.
- The boxes are connected with a string so that when elephants attempt to pass through, a tug or pull causes the bees to swarm the elephant herds and dissuade them from progressing further.
- It is a cost-effective way of reducing human-wild conflicts without causing any harm to the animals.
How does it work?
- It is scientifically recorded that elephants are annoyed by the honey bees.
- Elephants also fear that the bee swarms can bite the sensitive inner side of the trunk and eyes.
- The collective buzz of the bees is annoying to elephants that force them to return.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NIRF
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues in ranking HEI based on common framework
Context
The ranking of State-run higher education institutions (HEIs) together with centrally funded institutions using the National Institutional Ranking Framework, or the NIRF, is akin to comparing apples and oranges.
Institute data
- According to an All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-20 report, there are 1,043 HEIs.
- Of these, 48 are central universities.
- 135 are institutions of national importance,
- 1 is a central open university,
- 386 are State public universities,
- 5 are institutions under the State legislature act,
- 14 are State open universities,
- 327 are State private universities,
- 1 is a State private open university,
- 36 are government deemed universities,
- 10 are government aided deemed universities.
- 80 are private deemed universities.
Comparison of financial health of State HEI with Central HEIs
- A close study of the above data shows that 184 are centrally funded institutions (out of 1,043 HEIs in the country) to which the Government of India generously allocates its financial resources in contrast to inadequate financial support provided by State governments to their respective State public universities and colleges.
- The Central government earmarked the sums, ₹7,686 crore and ₹7,643.26 crore to the IITs and central universities, respectively, in the Union Budget 2021.
- Ironically, out of the total student enrolment, the number of undergraduate students is the largest (13,97,527) in State public universities followed by State open universities (9,22,944).
How NIRF ranks the education institutions?
- Parameters set by the core committee of experts: The NIRF outlines a methodology to rank HEIs across the country, which is based on a set of metrics for the ranking of HEIs as agreed upon by a core committee of experts set up by the then Ministry of Human Resources Development (now the Ministry of Education), Government of India
- The NIRF ranks HEIs on five parameters: teaching, learning and resources; research and professional practice; graduation outcome; outreach and inclusivity, and perception.
Where do State HEIs lag on NIRF parameters?
- Teaching, learning and resources include metrics viz. student strength including doctoral students, the faculty-student ratio with an emphasis on permanent faculty, a combined metric for faculty with the qualification of PhD (or equivalent) and experience, and financial resources and their utilisation.
- Low faculty strength in State HEIs: In the absence of adequate faculty strength, most State HEIs lag behind in this crucial NIRF parameter for ranking.
- The depleting strength of teachers has further weakened the faculty-student ratio with an emphasis on permanent faculty in HEIs.
- Research and professional practise encompasses a combined metric for publications, a combined metric for quality of publications, intellectual property rights/patents and the footprint of projects, professional practice and executive development programmes.
- Need for modernisation of laboratories: As most laboratories need drastic modernisation in keeping pace with today’s market demand, it is no wonder that State HEIs fare miserably in this parameter as well while pitted against central institutions.
Issues with comparing State HEIs with Central HEIs
- The difference in financial allocations diregarded: The financial health of State-sponsored HEIs is an open secret with salary and pension liabilities barely being managed.
- Hence, rating such institutions vis-à-vis centrally funded institutions does not make any sense.
- No cost-benefit analysis carried out: No agency carries out a cost-benefit analysis of State versus centrally funded HEIs on economic indicators such as return on investment the Government made into them vis-à-vis the contribution of their students in nation building parameters such as the number of students who passed out serving in rural areas, and bringing relief to common man.
- While students who pass out of elite institutions generally prefer to move abroad in search of higher studies and better career prospects, a majority of State HEIs contribute immensely in building the local economy.
- Issues in embracing technologies: State HEIs are struggling to embrace emerging technologies involving artificial intelligence, machine learning, block chains, smart boards, handheld computing devices, adaptive computer testing for student development.
Consider the question “What are the challenges in the ranking of Higher Education Institutions in India? What are the issues faced by State HEI?”
Conclusion
Ranking HEIs on a common scale purely based on strengths without taking note of the challenges and the weaknesses they face is not justified. It is time the NIRF plans an appropriate mechanism to rate the output and the performance of institutes in light of their constraints and the resources available to them.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Contrast between white and green revolution
Context
November 26, 2021 was celebrated in Anand, Gujarat as the 100th birth anniversary of Verghese Kurien, the leader of India’s ‘white revolution’.
Analysing the Green revolution
- Purpose of green revolution: The purpose of the green revolution was to increase the output of agriculture to prevent shortages of food.
- Technocratic enterprise: The green revolution was largely a technocratic enterprise driven by science and the principles of efficiency.
- It required inputs, like chemical fertilizers, to be produced on scale and at low cost.
- Therefore, large fertilizer factories were set up for the green revolution. And large dams and irrigation systems were also required to feed water on a large scale.
- Monocropping on fields was necessary to apply all appropriate inputs — seeds, fertilizer, water, etc., on scale.
- Monocropping increased the efficiency in application of inputs.
- Thus, farms became like large, dedicated engineering factories designed to produce large volumes efficiently.
- Diversity in the products and processes of large factories creates complexity.
- Therefore, diversity is weeded out to keep the factories well-focused on the outputs they are designed for.
The contrast between White and Green revolution
- The contrast between the two revolutions provides valuable insights. Their purposes were different.
- Purpose of white revolution: The purpose of the white revolution was to increase the incomes of small farmers in Gujarat, not the output of milk.
- The white revolution was a socio-economic enterprise driven by political leaders and principles of equity.
Understanding the success of Amul
- Amul has become one of India’s most loved brands, and is respected internationally too for the quality of its products and the efficiency of its management.
- The fledgling, farmer-owned, Indian enterprise had many technological problems to solve.
- That is why they enrolled Kurien, who had studied engineering in the United States.
- Indigenous solutions: Kurien and his engineering compatriots in the organisation were compelled to develop solutions indigenously when Indian policy makers, influenced by foreign experts, said Indians could not make it.
- The enterprise achieved its outcome of empowering farmers because the governance of the enterprise to achieve equity was always kept in the foreground, with the efficiency of its production processes in the background as a means to the outcome.
Increasing productivity and issues with it
- ‘Productivity’, when defined as output per worker, can be increased by eliminating workers.
- This may be an acceptable way to measure and increase productivity when the purpose of the enterprise is to increase profits of investors in the enterprise.
- It is a wrong approach to productivity when the purpose of the enterprise is to enable more workers to increase their incomes, which must be the aim of any policy to increase small farmers’ incomes.
- The need for new solutions to increase farmers’ incomes has become imperative.
- Moreover, fundamental changes in economics and management sciences are necessary to reverse the degradation of the planet’s natural environment that has taken place with the application of modern technological solutions and management methods for the pursuit of economic growth.
Suggestions to increase inclusion and improve environmental sustainability
- Ensure inclusion and equity: Increase in the incomes and wealth of the workers and small asset owners in the enterprise must be the purpose of the enterprise, rather than production of better returns for investors.
- Social side: The ‘social’ side of the enterprise is as important as its ‘business’ side.
- Therefore, new metrics of performance must be used, and many ‘non-corporate’ methods of management learned and applied to strengthen its social fabric.
- Local solution: Solutions must be ‘local systems’ solutions, rather than ‘global (or national) scale’ solutions.
- The resources in the local environment (including local workers) must be the principal resources of the enterprise.
- Practical use of science: Science must be practical and useable by the people on the ground rather than a science developed by experts to convince other experts.
- Moreover, people on the ground are often better scientists from whom scientists in universities can learn useful science.
- Sustainable solution through evolution: Sustainable transformations are brought about by a steady process of evolution, not by drastic revolution.
- Large-scale transformations imposed from the top can have strong side-effects.
Consider the question “Contrast the differences between the White Revolution and Green Revolution in India. What lessons can be applied to Indian agriculture from the success of the White Revolution in India?”
Conclusion
The essence of democratic economic governance is that an enterprise must be of the people, for the people, and governed by the people too.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now